Plato's Myth of Er in the Republic

“You must contemplate the soul with the eye of reason, in her original purity; and then her beauty will be revealed, and justice and injustice and all the things which we have described will be manifested more clearly.”

~ Socrates to Glaucon in Plato’s Republic, Book 10

Artwork: Plato’s Academy mosaic — from the Villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii. Photo: Public Domain

In Book 10 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates and Glaucon discuss the immortality of the soul, and notions of Justice. Notably, Socrates tells a story to illustrate how the choices we make in this life echo in eternity.

He recounts the adventure of Er, who dies and is placed on the funeral pyre then awakes before it’s too late. He tells of an extraordinary vision of the afterlife in which he witnessed the judgment of souls, based on their deeds in life. Those who acted morally rise to a sort of heavenly place, while the others descend to a place of punishment. Finally, the souls get to pick their next life on earth. And, as per usual, we humans can be our own worst enemies. It seems those who experienced punishment opt for simple lives: they now realize the pitfalls of fame, fortune, and glory. But those who’ve experienced 1000 years of bliss (and might have been judged after living the simple life of a shepherd) choose wealth, power, influence. Perhaps they think they’ll avoid all the traps. And thus, the cycle continues. Yet again, what Plato gives us is a vision of the immortality of the soul — and a story that reminds us that what we choose to do in life will carry weight in the afterlife.

Notice as you read the Myth of Er how the great Greek heroes of Homer—the very ones who fought in the Trojan War, like Achilles and Odysseus—decide. A good reminder that the glory we pursue in this life is perhaps not all that it’s cut out to be, when we confront eternity, and death.